'I'm scared': In Detroit, a city hit hard by COVID-19, reopening classrooms sparks protests
As school leaders agonize over whether and how to reopen, fights like the one in Detroit this week could soon play out across the country.
DETROIT — The fury surrounding the start of summer school in Detroit this week offers a preview of the emotional battles that could hit many more communities this fall.
The city’s main public school district made the unusual decision to open classrooms for in-person summer learning starting Monday in hopes of helping children catch up four months after the coronavirus forced schools to close.
While the district says it took safety precautions to prevent the spread of the virus and stressed that no students or teachers were forced to participate in face-to-face instruction, the first two days of classes were met with protests. Activists blocked school buses from leaving a bus depot. A civil rights lawyer, who used the word “genocide” to describe the effect of the district’s decision because the student population is 96 percent Black or Latino, says she plans to seek an injunction to close the schools. The head of the city teachers union called in-person summer school a “mind-boggling decision.” And some parents expressed grave reservations about whether their children would be safe.
“I’m scared,” said Kim Martin, 50, who was picking up her son, Allyn, an eighth grader, from his summer school classes at the Brenda Scott Academy on Detroit’s east side Monday. “I don’t want my son to get sick. He’s an asthmatic.”
Across the country, many districts are embroiled in what has become a highly politicized debate about school reopenings, with President Donald Trump threatening to withhold funding from schools that don’t offer in-person instruction. On Monday, two of the nation’s largest districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said they will not offer in-person instruction when they reopen for the new school year because of rising COVID-19 case numbers in California.
Detroit, where roughly 500 students attended classes at 23 schools Monday, isn’t the only city to hold in-person summer school. Some districts, though, including in Connecticut and Iowa, have already CONTINUE READING: 'I'm scared': In Detroit, a city hit hard by COVID-19, reopening classrooms sparks protests